Ubuntu Software Engineer

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is widely used in breakthrough enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation and IoT. Customers include the world’s leading public cloud and silicon providers and industry leaders in many sectors.

The company is founder‑led, profitable and growing. Canonical is a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with more than 1,200 colleagues in 75+ countries and very few office‑based roles. Teams meet two to four times yearly in person in interesting locations around the world to align on strategy and execution.

We are hiring engineers to work across the breadth of our Ubuntu Engineering organisation – engineers who care deeply about quality, performance and resilience in software, and who are comfortable both designing new software and packaging, integrating, testing and shipping the incredible catalog of open source software in the Ubuntu repositories.

Our engineers integrate the freshest open source software, provide robust upgrade paths and engineer the future of Ubuntu. Ubuntu is not just the world’s most deployed open source operating system – it is a platform that enables innovation for millions of users across the globe. Our community represents the full breadth of the developer experience; from students and hobbyists to high‑performance engineering and creative teams in corporate and academic environments.

• Foundations – maintaining foundational software: architectures, package managers, compilers, tool chains, bootloaders, file systems and core utilities
• Server – leading the design, evolution and future of our Ubuntu Server distribution
• Desktop – driving Ubuntu Desktop, our future immutable desktop:
  Ubuntu Core Desktop, WSL, gaming technology, and a suite of modern applications for the desktop crafted with Flutter
• Debcrafters – a new team responsible for the forward movement, maintenance and overall health of the Ubuntu archive: one of the most abundant repositories of open source software available today

• Development – design, build and ship new foundational systems software and applications in Rust, Go, Flutter, and Python
• Architecture – engineer the integration of open source from boot firmware to cloud applications deployment
• Packaging – combine Debian and Snap packaging to ship software in the distribution
• Automation – build and maintain the machinery responsible for building, testing and shipping Ubuntu
• Distro Engineering – maintain and evolve a Linux distribution and its repositories

• Design, build and ship software in Rust, Go, and Python
• Package, integrate, test and upload open source software to the Ubuntu repositories
• Debug system‑level issues and deliver robust solutions
• Author and improve technical and community documentation
• Contribute to upstream and neighboring open source projects
• Collaborate as part of a globally distributed team
• Mentor colleagues to build skills and understanding
• Develop and improve processes to more efficiently fulfil our goals

• Exceptional academic track record from high school and university
• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or STEM, or a compelling narrative about an alternative path
• Drive and a track record of going above and beyond expectations
• Demonstrated passion for open source software
• Significant experience with Rust, Go, Python, Flutter or C/C++
• Professional written and spoken English
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Ability to travel twice a year, for company events up to two weeks each

• Experience with Linux distributions and distribution engineering
• Experience with software packaging and distribution mechanisms
• Understanding of build systems and tool chains, including for cross‑compilation
• Performance or Security Engineering experience

• Distributed work environment with twice‑yearly team sprints in person
• Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year
• Annual compensation review
• Recognition rewards
• Annual holiday leave
• Maternity and paternity leave
• Team Member Assistance…